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Flying Scotsman: Event marks 100th anniversary of famous locomotive

BBC Simon ArmitageBBC
Simon Armitage rode on the Flying Scotsman as part of his poem-writing process

Legendary locomotive the Flying Scotsman is "an emblem of when we could have pride" in the railways, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has said.

He was speaking at an event to mark 100 years of the world-famous, Doncaster-built steam locomotive in Edinburgh.

The engine entered service on 24 February 1923, and Mr Armitage has written a poem for the anniversary.

"There's just something absolutely incredible when you're up close and personal with it," he said.

The Flying Scotsman surprised travellers as it pulled into the Scottish capital on Friday morning.

Huddersfield-born poet Mr Armitage read out a poem called The Making Of The Flying Scotsman to mark the celebratory event.

He rode on the locomotive as part of the process of writing the poem, in which he describes how the steam engine "coughed into life" and features "vast steel circumferences" and "rippling bodywork pouring with sweat".

He said he was struck by "this incredible coming together of both mechanics and metaphysics".

The Poet Laureate marks 100 years of the Flying Scotsman with a new poem

Flying Scotsman was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and built in Doncaster.

Its achievements include hauling the inaugural non-stop London to Edinburgh train service in 1928, and becoming the UK's first locomotive to reach 100mph six years later.

The National Railway Museum in York, where Flying Scotsman is a working exhibit, has organised a centenary programme featuring events and displays.

The Flying Scotsman
Dancing and music featured at the event at Edinburgh Waverley on Friday morning

The engine will spend the rest of 2023 travelling across the country to allow as many people as possible to see it in its 100th anniversary year.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Armitage said he wanted to celebrate the "analogue world", when people had "an actual relationship with physical objects".

"There's something very dreamlike about the whole contraption and the experience of standing next to it.

He continued: "I think in the digital world it's often a very detached and dispassionate experience."

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